Kitchen Orchestra + Lotte Anker (DK)

When Lotte Anker was invited to Tou Scene to lead and collaborate with a group of Stavanger musicians in 2005, no one realized at the time that an ensemble was born. Now, as Kitchen Orchestra celebrates 10 years as an ensemble, it is with great pleasure we welcome Lotte back.

Transcending Jukebox is a commissioned piece for the anniversary and has its premiere on September 13th. The piece involves the whole orchestra with more than 20 musicians on stage, and is a sound collage dealing with different aspects of time: the here-and-now of daily life and the extended, surrealistic time of dreams. The jukebox was a source of music in everyday life, but was also a point of departure for dreams and longing. A center of ritual and community for bar guests. In the commissioned work, the old pop music is replaced by references to contemporary classical music, free jazz and experimental music, mixed with text fragments and visual performance elements. The transcending jukebox is transformed into an inner jukebox with strange, illuminating, wild and poetic landscapes.

Lotte Anker is a Copenhagen-based saxophonist and composer, working in the field between experimental jazz, improvisation and contemporary classical music. Her music includes both melodic (at times twisted and fragmented) and more abstract textures, and ranges from minimalistic transparency to dense, dark expressionism. She has initiated and led a number of renowned collaborations and ensembles, with musicians such as Craig Taborn, Gerard Cleaver, Sylvie Courvoisier, Ikue Mori, Fred Frith etc. She has performed at festivals and concert stages throughout Europe, USA, Canada, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.